By: Charles Denney| humanrightspulse.com | 7 October 2021|
Violence, Lies, And Pushbacks As Part Of Greece’s “De Facto” Policy Towards Migrants
On 23 June 2021 Amnesty International released a report entitled “Greece: Violence, Lies, and Pushbacks” documenting the treatment of migrants (this term is used neutrally here and includes those applying for international protection) attempting to enter Greece from Turkey either in the Evros region or the Aegean Islands, and those who have already entered Greece. The report records 21 documented examples of pushbacks both at sea and land, alongside startling human right abuses. Such treatment demonstrates Europe’s continuing trend away from human rights protection towards border control along with a lack of accountability from the European Union’s border force, Frontex.
Greece, like other frontier EU Member States, has borne the brunt of the influx of migrants fleeing conflict and persecution from countries including Syria and Afghanistan. Despite the “EU-Turkey” deal and provisional legislative measures (found here and here) to alleviate the burden, Greece has still struggled to manage the large numbers of migrants with their containment policy on the Aegean Islands degrading to an increased militarisation of borders and an increase in pushbacks. In other words, towards a de facto pushback policy.